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Petraeus’s replacement

Lew Rockwell’s blog hosts disturbing video on General James Mattis, the guy who is going to replace David Petraeus as commander of CENTCOM.

Here’s the most shocking quote, from committee testimony given by Mattis:

“Actually, it’s a lot of fun to fight. You know, it’s a hell of a hoot. It’s fun to shoot some people.”

Nothing about war is a hoot, General Mattis. American teenagers are coming home in body bags. Afghan civilians are being killed right and left–whether our drones or Taliban bombings, the death of innocents is the constant. Not even shooting your enemy should be fun. It might be your duty to yourself and your own self-defense, but you will still have made another kid fatherless every time you put a notch on your gun.

These comments are far more insensitive and frightening than anything Stan McChrystal’s staffers said in the Rolling Stone interview. Mattis sounds little better than a rah-rah high school football player with some medals on his chest and a deadly arsenal at his command. We don’t need people with no regard for life making a bad war even worse.